Railway car door



W. SALMON.-

RAILWAY CAR 000R. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 26, 1920.

1 ,4 1 5,484. Patented May 9, 1922, 5 SHEETS-SHEET L I I I 1'0 E 5 iii fi E Y a f w a g v Q Q; E g I WITNESSES Wafjd 5 al 4 ATTORNEYS W. SALMON.

RAILWAY CAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED .FEB. 26, 1920.

1,415,484, I Patented May 9,1922.

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Patented May 9, 1922.

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Y ATTORNEYS W. SALMON-.

RAILWAY CARDOOR. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 26, 1920.

1,415,484. Patented y9,19,22.

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RAILWAY CAR DOOR.

APPUCATION FILED FEB. 26, 1920,

1,41 5,484, Patented May 9, 1922.

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[N VE/V TOR WITNESSEb' Mil/56d Salmon, WW W96 A TTORNEYS Nirs wrnrnio sALi/roN, orsr. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

RAILWAY GAR DOOR.

Application filed February 26, 1929. Serial No. 361,370. g

I To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, \VILFRID SALMON; a citizen of the United States, and a resident of St. Paul, in the county ozt Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Car Doors, of which the following is a specification. I j

. My invention relates to improvements in car doors, and .it' consists in the construe tions, combinations and arrangements herein described and claimed. 7

One of the foremost objects of the invention is to provide a car door which can be fitted into the door opening with varying degrees of tightness, ranging from a relatively loose fit for purposes of ventilation, to a very tight fit, which practically seals the door in the opening.

A further object of the invention is to provide an arrangement of castings which are used in connection with the improved car door, which castings can be operatively applied to any size door and .door opening, and regardless of whether the car to which they are to be applied is old or new. .Other objects and advantages will ap pear in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,in which: I

iFigure 1 is a side elevation of the ham proved car door, showing it in position over a door opening, V Figure 2 is a side elevation of a part of a side of a car, the door being removed in order to illustrate the positions of the various brackets and castings referred to below,

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Figure 2,

Figure 4 is a detail sectional view taken substantially on the line 4 l of Figure 1, illustrating the door in an open or ventilating position, v

Figureo is a similar View showing the door in the tightly closed position,

Figure 6 is an elevation of the inside of the improved car door,

Figures 7 and 8 are detail views of the operating or closure lever,

Figure 9 is a detail elevation of one of the wheel housing carried by the door,

Figure .10 is a detail perspective view of the right still casting, V

Figure 11 is a detail perspective'view of one of the roof brackets, and

Figure 12 is a detail perspective view Specification of Letters Patent;

Patented May 9, 1922.

of one of the thimbles for spacing the'upper rail from the side of the car. I I

By reference to the drawingsfit willbe observed that the lower rail 1"is supported adjacent to the car door opening 2 by means.

of the left and right sill castings 3 and as many additional supports 4 as may be required. The rail wheels5 run on the rail 1, and being carried by the door 6 support the whole weight of the door and its car-y ried parts. j v

There is a wheel housing 7 in each lower corner of the door 6, these wheel housings being properly arranged to accommodate the rail wheels 5, the wheels themselves being suitably mounted at 8. An extension 9, from the outer corner of each wheel housing 7 is made into the shape of a hollow housing to provide a cover for the extending flanges 10 of slides 11 in slide brackets or castings 12.

l/Vhen the car door is opened, that is to say spaced away from thedoor opening 52in Figure 4, the bracket cover 9 of course I stands quite a distance from the flanges 10. But when the closure lever 13 on the outside of the car, is manipulated to cause the closure wheels let to ride down the inclined slides 11 in thecastingslQ, then the door has moved inwardly into the opening and the flanges 10 are completely covered as in-'- dicated in dotted lines in Figure 5, so that they may be neither seen from the outside mechanism The sill castings .3, of which there is one nor can access be had to the operating at each lower corner of the door opening as, lndlcated in Figure 2, are made right and.

left handed so that the track-15 formed on top of each, may come next to the jainb of In other words, under normal conditions, .the'

rail wheels 5 run on the rail 1, but when the car door 6 is moved inwardly so as to stances it is necessary to properly support the door and it is the guide wheels 16 which perform the supporting function of the door.

In the top corners of the door opening 2 there are other slide brackets 18 very much on the order of the slide brackets 12, in that they too are provided with inclined slides 19 upon which closure wheels 20 ride. Figure 6 shows the inside construction oi the car door. Here the various closure wheels 14 and 20 are shown mounted on closure links 21 and 22 which are suitably pivoted on supports 23.

The ends of these links are connected by rods 24, other rods 25 running from the bottom link to an inside lever 26, at the pivotal point 27 to which the outer closure lever 13 is connected.

Normally the closure lever 13 hangs down about as shown in Figure 1. at which time it abuts the stop 28 on the bracket 29 which provides the pivotal support of the lever as clearly shown in Figure 8. Upon rais' the closure lever 13 into engagement with the notches of the circular ruck plate 30. the various links. rods and levers on the inside of the door in Figure 6 are moved on their pivotal points so that the closure wheels 14. and 20 are caused to ride down the various inclined slides 11 and 19 and thus cause the door to move inwardly as already t'ully explained in connection with Figure 5.

The end 31 ot the closure lever has an aperture 32 for the purpose of affixing a suitable seal after the lever has been moved to the final position over the rack 30. To this end the rack may have a plurality oi? apertures through any one of which the sealing wire may be threaded in connection with the a erture 32. A broken seal wire will of course indicate that the car door mechanism has been tampered with.

There is a bracket cover for each of the slide brackets 18, it being observed that these bracket covers conceal or house the closure wheels on the ends of the closure links. The provision of these covers therefore makes the closure wheels inaccessible from the outside. These covers are parts of castings 3% which are suitably aliixed to the door 6 at the top.

The top oi the door 6 is unsupported but is prevented from falling outwardly by the rail which is mounted on suitably disposed rail brackets 36, one oi which is shown in detail in Figure 11. A number of intermediate thimbles 37 keep the upper rail 35 in proper spaced relationsh p to the side of the car. The top of the brackets 36 are inclined and further provided with lugs 38 through which the root is secured. The root excludes moisture f om the door. and the door is slid back and forth over the Jottom rail 1. the upper end merely glides against the rail 35, there being no occasion tor any other arrangement.

the car door (3 run on therail 1 at the bot tom. lVhen thus positioned the door may be moved back and forth to the open and closed positions.

lVhen it is intended to close the door in vthe opening' 2, the door is moved along into alinemcnt with the opening at which time the closure wheels l4: and 20 come into alinement with the flanges of the various inclined slides at the top and bottom in readiness for the closing movement. The closure lever 13 on the outside is now litted until the projection 31 engages the lowermost of the teeth of the rack plate 30. The door may be closed to a greater or less degree, that is to say. it the closure lever is moved up but a short distance, a ventilating space will remain around the door 6 by reason of the fact that at such time the door is not fully closed.

But the door may be tightly sealed in the opening 2 as shown in l igure 5. This is accomplished by moving the closure lever 13 over the full extent of the rack 30, this operation causing the various wheels 14: and 20 to ride further down the inclines 11 and 19 so that the door becomes tightly wedgedin the opening. The rail wheels 5 are lifted from the track 1 during the first part of the movement of the closure lever 13 over the rack 30.

But the weight of the door and its carried parts is then sustained by the guide wheels 16 which come into engagement with the tac: 15 of the sill casting, further movement of the closure lever 13 causing the door 6 to move inwardly as explained, and at the same time causing the guide wheels 16 to ride inwardly over the track as stated. As pointed out in the objects oi the invention tl. various castings may be applied to either old or new doors, and the size of the door or door opening is immaterial because these castings can be applied to any size door. one great advantage rising from the embodiment the invention in a, car door, exists in the ability to make either a loose door connection for purposes oii' ventilation, or a very tight door connection which practically seals the door in the opening and eX- oludes the entrance of air.

ll hile the construction and arrangement of the improved car door as herein described and claimed, is that of a generally preferred form, obviously modifications and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims.

I claim 1. In combination with a car having a door opening and a rail, of a door with wheels running on the rail, means carried by the door operating with a lever action for bodily lifting the door and wheels from the rail into the opening, means located in the opening with which said lever mechanism cooperates in performing the lifting action, and means carried by the door and cooperating means located in the door opening providing a support for said door as it is conveyed from the rail into the opening.

2. The combination ofslide means suitably fixed in each corner of a car door opening, and a car door, with lever mechanism coacting with the slide means to transport the door into the opening, and means operative in the closed position of the door for covering each otherwise exposed part of the slide means and lever mechanism, to prevent access from the outside.

3. The combination of castings suitably fixed in each corner of a car door opening, each with inclined slides; and a car door with lever mechanism on the'inside and actuating means therefor on the outside, including means arranged to move down the slides and thereby lift the door into the opening, and means carried by the door covering the otherwise exposed part of the casting and lever mechanism when the door is closed.

4. A car door, with a link pivoted substantially in each corner, all so connected as to be simultaneously rocked by an externally accessible closure lever; castings having slides with which the pivoted links operate in combination, suitably mounted in the corners of a door opening; a housing on each lower door corner, containing rail wheels and guide wheels to run on appropriate tracks on the sill of the door opening when the door is carried therein, said housing including portions covering the exposed operating ends of the adjacent links; and similar covers for the exposed ends of the upper links, all covers concealing the adjacent parts of the aforesaid slides when the door is closed.

5. The combination of sill castings with track portions, mounted in each corner of the sill of a door opening, and a car door, with wheels normally running on a rail, arranged to be lifted from the rail into the door opening and provided with guide wheels then running on the track portions.

6. The combination of sill castings including-tracks and depressions, mounted on the sill in the corners of a door opening; a rail affixed to extended parts of said castings, and a car door with rail wheels normally running on the rail, including means for lifting the door and rail wheels from against.

8. In combination with a car having a rail, a car door having housings with wheels mounted therein and running on the rail, one housing including a lug; a latch, operating between stop lugs on a casting affixed to the car, arranged to engage the lug when the door is drawn back thereagainst, and a bumper on the car for limiting the backward movement of the door.

9. In combination with a car having a door opening and a rail, ofi a door with wheels running on the rail, and guide wheels arranged to run on tracks on sill castings located in the corners of the opening; castings in the four corners of the opening with slides, a pivoted lever mechanism on the inside of the door, including links with end rollers to ride in the slides, and an external closure lever by which .said mechanism is operated; closure means located substantially in the corners of the door covering the rollers and otherwise exposed parts of the aforesaid castings, the lower closure means being parts of housings containing the rail wheels and guide wheels; a roof over the door on brackets to which an upper rail is aflixed to support the otherwise loose upper end of the door; and a rack plate cooperating with the closure lever enabling varying degrees of closure of the door in the door opening by moving the lever through various distances over the rack plate.

10. In combination with a carhaving an opening, a door movable on a track into position opposite the opening, means both assisting to support the track and adapted to support the door vwhen off the track, means to lift the door off the track and laterally into the opening, and means carried by the door adapted to then engage said supporting means to support the door while off the track.

' WILFRID SALMON. 

